What is there to do in Bonaire if you don’t dive?

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For a long time, I had been asking my boyfriend to take me to some nice place on the occasion of our anniversary. And 2 days before the date, he surprised me by handling over the tickets of our Bonaire trip to me.

I had never heard of this place, but my boyfriend assured me that Bonaire was the perfect place for this occasion. He was right. He knows me better than me. Edward knew that I love beach activities; diving, surfing, snorkeling, everything for which the world knows Bonaire.

And today, still under the hangover of the beauty of Bonaire, I decided to share our holiday experience with all, and help those who are looking forward to travelling to Bonaire.

Bonaire is an island in the Caribbean, officially a public body of the Netherlands. It was earlier a part of the Netherlands Antilles.

After its dissolution in 2010, it became a special municipality of the country of Netherlands. The beauty of this island can be felt by the fact that Bonaire’s primary economy is based on tourism.

Travel To Bonaire

This island caters snorkelers and scuba divers, as there are many sandy beaches, and the surrounding reefs are easily accessible from the shore. Bonaire is world famous for its admirable scuba diving, snorkeling and wind

surfing.

We had booked a nice hotel; a perfect romantic resort for us to get intimate on the special day. Majority of resorts in Bonaire have an on-site dive shop. Those which don’t are associated with a dive operation.

Well, our hotel had this dive shop, and this was what we enjoyed on our arrival to Bonaire, late in the evening. One thing that we noticed was that the license plates on Bonaire’s vehicles read “Diver’s Paradise”.

Now that was some real, confident advertisement!! And we soon found out that if this slogan fits on any place on the earth, Bonaire it is.

Next day, we started from the Bonaire Marine Bay. This is a popular area among tourists that boasts many dive sites, most of them reachable from the shore, while other can be reached with boat moorings.

My boyfriend had heard a lot about it and it lived up to our expectations. We both are experienced divers, and we love diving. And the Bonaire Marina Bay provided us with enough activities to choose from. We did 5 dives and saw some appreciable diversity.

This place is as good as advertised. Even better you can say!! We also met some professional divers, who told us that they come to Bonaire on annual basis because it is the best. J Most of the diving sites have an inclined reef, which allows everyone to dive as deep or as shallow as you want.

Even if you are a beginner, or even if you are not a big fan of water sports, if you are in Bonaire, trying this is a must…

After spending some quality time at the Marina Bay, we moved on to the Donkey Sanctuary, Bonaire. A woman, along with her staff runs this sanctuary. On having a talk with the woman, we found out the strong vision of the old lady to provide a safe shelter for most of the donkey population in Bonaire.

About 500 donkeys are kept in this sanctuary. Every staff-person in this shelter is passionate about his work and about the cause. You can’t say you are viewing a donkey! They are treated like kings over here. We bought some carrots to feed the donkeys.

It was a nice experience to feed them those carrots. It would be a waste of your Bonaire trip if you don’t visit this sanctuary. I must say; a great cause, and an even better experience. J

Now was the time to try out some Windsurfing. And for this, we reached Lac Bay. We rented all our necessary windsurfing gear from Jibe City and set our sail. We really enjoyed windsurfing in the waters of the Lac Bay. It was a truly amazing experience.

The Jibe City shop also provides windsurfing lessons for newbie’s. The lessons, including the windsurfing gear costs around 50$ per person. And this is money well spent. We saw some couples taking the lessons, and the next time we saw them, they were surfing like the emperors of the world. We spent a lot of time at the Lac Bay.

Eventually, the sun began to set. It was a one – of – its – kind experience to watch the sunset view from this lovely place. It was very calm and majestic. With this, we went back to our resort. I was eagerly waiting for the next day, as there was a lot to explore in the beauty of Bonaire.

We woke up early so as to utilize all the time we had. It was our last day in Bonaire. We had to return back the next day, and so neither of us wanted to waste any single moment of time. We started our day by visiting the Butterfly Garden.

This garden is situated in the middle of an abandoned area. But it is a magnificent spot. There are butterflies everywhere. A great place for kids; even better for grownups who seek eternal peace. There were kids jumping here and there to see the beautiful butterflies.

We spotted some really gorgeous butterflies. It was like watching some wildlife show on National Geographic channel. We were totally mesmerized. There could not have been a better start to our day than visiting the Butterflies Garden.

Bachelor’s Beach was our next destination. This is a nice, sandy beach, popular for every kind of water activity, be it snorkeling or windsurfing. We were not in the mood, so we decided to just enjoy our sun bath on this lovely beach.

This place is one of the most visited places of Bonaire, and hence crowded. Still, we found our little piece of land and we enjoyed our time. We saw a turtle making its way towards us. Watching a turtle is always a delightful experience. It was a small one, probably lost looking for its mom!

Next was our visit to Eden Beach, Kralendijk. This is another splendid beach of Bonaire. Everyone here was talking about Wannadive. We learnt that Wannadive was a company that assists diving at this beach.

We decided to put their name to test. And we have to admit, they guys are the best! Magnificent Eden beach, relaxed atmosphere, professional staff, fair prices and great service..What more can someone desire. They were a bit busy because of the number of people using their facilities, and we had to wait because of this. But yes, this wait was worth it.

Once you have all the gear, it’s nothing but diving the whole time… We enjoyed some of the best diving time of our lives being at this beach using Wannadive services. We then spared some time to roam across the beautiful beach, hands in hands, cherishing the moments we lived on this trip, and remembering the good old times.

With this came an end to our Bonaire trip. I have to say, I am thankful to Edward to have taken me to this heaven on Earth. Nothing could have been better than the beauty of Bonaire to celebrate our anniversary.

We are still so spellbound by the brilliance of Bonaire that we’ve decided to visit it again. We don’t know when, but yeah, we will! If you are also planning to travel to some place in the Caribbean, consider this Diver’s Paradise at the top of your list.

If you are an enthusiastic diver, a windsurfer, or a snorkeling lover, believe me, no other place could be better to try and sharpen your skills.


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ABOUT ME

I’m Jeff – I’m like a human GPS, but instead of giving you directions, I give you the inside scoop on how to have the time of your life on your next holiday.

As a born & raised Floridian, I know my home state like the back of my hand.

From the excitement of Orlando’s theme parks to the natural beauty of the Everglades, I’ve explored it all.

About Us Jeff from TravelMagma

But Florida is just the beginning of my adventures.

I’ve traveled across the US, from the red rocks of Sedona to the lively streets of New York City.

Overseas, I’ve marveled at the Eiffel Tower in Paris and tasted gelato in the piazzas of Rome.

My most unforgettable trip was a safari in Kenya.

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I even wrote a Book!

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